Fragmentary Accounts of a Popular Religion: Newspaper Reports and the “Zalma Angel” of 1895

In the late nineteenth century, newspapers around the United States documented the emergence of many “new religious sects.” These movements were so pervasive that newspapers began to compile and joke about them for popular entertainment. Unfortunately, many of these groups have gone unrecorded by scholars due to the lack of archival materials. Using the 1895 “Zalma Angel” as a case study, this paper probes the utility of newspaper databases as a source for studying this trend within popular culture and the limitations built into the creation of these archives. Based in rural Missouri, the fragmentary accounts of the “Zalma Angel” movement varied considerably. From ridicule to limited descriptions, the circulation of details and tone of the reporting outlined normative American religious sensibilities. As a case study, the “Zalma Angel” demonstrates the limits of studying historical popular religion and the role that newspapers played in selectively constructing and obscuring fringe religions.